1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the simulation of transmission on an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) type of transmission network. It also relates to a simulator of transmission on such a network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is recalled in this respect that an ATM network enables the transmission of digital information elements having varied bit rates that may be high, and may indeed go up to 155 Mbits/s.
It is also recalled that transmission in ATM mode is achieved by the transfer of fixed-length information units. The elementary quantity of information transmitted is 48 bytes. The information unit transmitted by ATM is called a cell and is identified by a five-byte label that is also known as a header. The total length of a cell is therefore 53 bytes.
It may be recalled also that there are two other major classes of digital transmission modes at the present time. These are the 64 bit/s circuit mode and the packet mode used, for example, by the Transpac network.
Transmission in ATM mode has the flexibility of transmission of the packet mode which enables transmissions at varied bit rates and, at the same time, ensures the simplicity of the protocols of the circuit mode.
At present, this transmission mode is not yet operational, and research work to study the characteristics of this network has been undertaken by the Applicant in order to devise and perfect ATM mode transmission/reception sources, i.e. more specifically the terminals connected to a network such as this, whether or not it is a local network.
To resolve this problem, the Applicant has had the idea of carrying out a simulation of the ATM mode transmission network and, notably, of simulating the connection of the network to such terminals and of simulating a two-way transmission in ATM mode between two terminals.